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Thursday, May 25, 2017

Poundbury, Prince Charles’ experimental new town in
southwest England, has turned 30 years old (story here) and deserves a fresh
look.

The town is an urban extension of Dorchester (population
20,000) and currently has 3,000 residents and 2,000 jobs.Its design concept was developed by
Prince Charles himself as a way to implement the neo-traditional architecture
and planning ideas he set out in his book A
Vision of Britain in 1989.(The
book attracted a lot of snark, as does virtually everything Prince Charles
does.See my review of his recent
climate change book here.)Still
not built out (not sure why it’s so slow), Poundbury is notable for its walkability,
mixed uses, and use of traditional building designs and materials.Its “retro” look has drawn scorn from
modernist architectural critics, although a few are now beginning to appreciate
the livability of the town (see Witold Rybczynski’s account from a few years
ago here).

From a transportation standpoint, Poundbury underscores the
point that the best transportation is “already being there.”Residents have access to a wide variety
of shops (a local grocery store, pub, florist, photographer, post office,
farmers’ market, gift shops, etc.), amenities, and green spaces, all within
easy walking distance.An electric
bus carries people into the center of Dorchester, including the train station,
although with unsatisfactory (to me) 30-minute off-peak headways.Cars are permitted, though kept
relatively tame (see Rybczynski’s review for details).

All in all, I think Poundbury is a wonderful experiment, and
I look forward to seeing its continued growth and success.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

I have written before about the remarkable (at least to
Americans) political resilience of the British Columbia carbon tax, and the
current general election campaign there underscores that phenomenon (my
comments on the last general election here).Voting is on May 9 (story here) and none of the three major
parties contesting the election wants to eliminate or roll back the tax.

The BC Liberals (despite the name, the most conservative
party in the race, and not affiliated
with the federal Liberal party) form the current government.Their platform calls for a continuing
carbon tax freeze, which they argue will support the principles of
affordability, competitiveness, and revenue neutrality while advancing the
goals of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Climate Change.

The New Democratic party (basically a labor/social
democratic party) anticipate that the carbon tax will need to increase to meet
federal targets and promise that when it does, they will use the increased
revenue to fund climate change projects and to send “climate action rebate
checks” to lower and middle class families.They want to position themselves as “leaders in climate
change solutions.”

The Greens (self-explanatory) want to increase and expand
the scope of the carbon tax, while eliminating the principle of revenue
neutrality and using at least some of the revenue to fund climate change
investments.

My summary may be an oversimplification, but I think the
overall picture is clear.The BC
political parties are arguing over how to use the carbon tax and whether to
increase it.No one is arguing for
reducing or eliminating it.

Is there a takeaway for US observers?I’m not sure, but at least it’s
refreshing to see political arguments that don’t include the anti-scientific, flat
earth viewpoints we see here.